Bilao, meaning “basket” in Tagalog, was one of those miracle COVID-19 restaurants that was born in the midst of the pandemic. The menu consists of greatest hits of the cuisine via chef Boji Asuncion, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner offered. Favorites included a fish congee called goto, kare kare (an oxtail stew thickened with peanut butter and bobbing with green beans), and a sizzling sisig incorporating hog ear, jowls, and liver.

Until the 1980s, the Port Authority and surrounding vicinity was a haven for small Philippine turo-turo (“point-point”) joints, or steam table cafes. So the location of Tradisyon in Hell’s Kitchen seems perfect. It presents Filipino food in fast-casual bowls via chefs Anton Dayrit and Bianca Vicente (the owner is Joey Chanco). Recommended dishes include a pork adobo with a boiled egg, and a vegetarian version of laing — taro leaves cooked in coconut milk. Wash it down with calamansi, a drink made with the miniature limes celebrated in the Philippines.

Founded in the Philippines, this fast food chain holds an element of nostalgia for many. Jollibee’s signature chicken joy — fried chicken with a side of rice and lots of gravy — is akin to a McDonald’s happy meal for many Filipino children. There’s also Filipino-style sweet spaghetti, which is loaded with ground meat and sliced hotdogs. For dessert, Jollibee offers ice cream sundaes, but is better known for its peach mango fried pie. There are other locations in Woodside and in Jersey City’s Journal Square.

When Krystal’s Cafe closed in the autumn just before the pandemic hit, Mary Jane De Leon and Efren De Leon replaced it with Amazing Grace, boasting a similar, far-ranging Filipino menu. Breakfasts featuring eggs, fish, and pork products are a focus, and so are the brochettes that constitute a signature of Filipino barbecue. Other standards are also well-executed in a setting with a lunch counter ambiance, from oxtail kare kare to sizzling pork sisig to seafood served steamed, fried, stuffed, made into soup, or coconut-milk poached.

Head to this spacious Woodside restaurant that’s been around since 2006 with Mario Albenio as owner and chef. It boasts particularly strong grilled options, like the tuna jaw or belly, along with skewers of chicken, pork, or sausage, all served alongside pickled vegetables. Most dishes are bargain-priced, and served with fluffy rice. Big groups, including lively birthday bashes, are common, so ice cream sundaes are another specialty.

A pint-sized place near Stuy Town run by Henry and Marissa Beck, Grill 21 has an extensive menu that runs the gamut from seafood dishes to meat offered in various permutations, most of which are fried, in soups, or with thick sauces. Classic dishes include chicken adobo, awash in a soy and vinegar sauce, pork-filled lumpia spring rolls, and a series of platters with two entrees (like a beef and milkfish pairing).

Competing with the nearby Jollibee’s for chicken supremacy, Max’s Restaurant cooks up one of best rotisserie chickens in Jersey City. The chain restaurant has been a household name for this iconic dish since 1945. It’s also known for crispy pata (deep fried pig trotters here), and other favorites like kare-kare.

Peruse a range of Filipino desserts, on the sweeter side and many starring ube, at this Jersey City favorite. Try some ensaymadas, buttery buns topped with shredded cheese and filled with coconut or ube; or pan de sal, a sweet bread roll sold as is or stuffed with a pork or coconut filling. Larger, shareable treats include vibrant, grape-hued ube cake and sapin-sapin, a coconut and glutinous rice confection. For something savory, there’s a self-serve buffet. Elma Santander founded Philippine Bread House in 1979, making it the oldest Filipino eatery in Jersey City.

This Southeast Asian option on the Lower East Side serves twists on traditional Filipino cuisine, in addition to Vietnamese and Thai recipes. On the Filipino side, there are dishes such as pork belly adobo, spiced up with Sichuan peppercorns and paired with a poached egg. Open since fall 2012 by Top Chef contestant Leah Cohen, Pig and Khao nabbed a two-star New York Times review the following year.

Daniel vet Armando Litiatco opened up this cheery Carroll Gardens spot in 2016, the name of which is an acronym of “fresh off the boat.” The menu spans all manner of surf and turf, like peel-and-eat shrimp basted in 7-Up, butter, and garlic; pork sisig; and pork or chicken barbecue skewers, cooked in a sweet marinade and served with banana ketchup for dipping. The zippy aqua facade ushers diners into a compact but attractive space, with wicker chairs and mismatched china.

Former Cendrillon chef Romy Dorotan along with wife and co-owner Amy Besa opened this charming Ditmas Park restaurant in 2012, focusing on brighter and lighter Philippine fare with the occasional Korean flourish. Dorotan turns out the classics like lumpia Shanghai — the Philippine’s take on Chinese egg rolls — every bit as deliciously greasy as you would like, and chicken adobo, said to be the national dish. But the restaurant’s lighter, more vegetable-driven dishes are represented by grilled eggplant kulawo, a salad accented with green mango and presented sprawled out engagingly on the plate, like a sunbather with a purple head.